EmPod making waves at the National Marine Aquarium

EmPod is a virtual scanning electron microscope designed and created by staff from the Electron Microscopy Centre and the Institute for Digital Art Technology.













As a major exhibit in the exciting “ExplorOcean” development at the NMA EmPod has been wowing visitors of all ages who are able to zoom in thousands of times to get a close up, clear view of microscopic marine life.


Image sets were created with the scanning electron microscope at the EM Centre by Peter Bond to give visitors the chance to delve into aspects of marine science research at the University using sophisticated equipment which they would normally never see or use.

The images show EmPod in action (with Matt Bilson from IDAT) and one of the wonders of the microscopic marine world. These are coccolithophores, tiny marine plankton, only 10 thousandths of a millimetre in diameter, which can give insights into climate change. Glenn Harper from the EM Centre is working with Colin Brownlee from the Marine Biological Association to investigate the biology of these fascinating organisms to help us understand the effects of global warming on our oceans.